I Dance When I Feel Powerless
with a Knot/Not Poem from Alison Luterman and Drawing by Jeff Davis
"Hard times require furious dancing." – Alice Walker
I struggle with powerlessness anytime harm is inflicted on the Loved Ones of Earth. What do I do? I'm wary as a white woman of my trauma-inspired protective rage. That energy carries the curse of over-acting and pointing at myself.
My instructions are to dignify my rage, put down my sword, and listen. Yet, not speak?
And how am I to navigate collective horror as a highly sensitive body? A gifted Jewish friend, Alison Luterman, says it best in her poem Not/Knot. Thank you, Alison!
If I'm being honest about it
and I'm probably not,
I've had my head in the sand
all this time, not
like an ostrich, but like a person
who doesn't know which voice to listen to
amid the explosions and the shouting,
and I don't know what I'd do
if I were in charge of anything
over there, which,
thank God, I am not,
I don't know anything
anymore, but still--if the price
of the place
is to kill and kill
and keep killing
children,
and if you had to
see it up close, for yourself,
the small, shattered bodies,
the homes, markets, schools, the
hospital
with its roof torn off,
the piles of naked, bound men
loaded onto a truck
going nowhere, and be told, not
for the first time,
that this was all being done
for your supposed benefit
or ultimate safety--
then what? Not
in my name, we say,
but that does not
change anything
on the ground, the knot
of history, too snarled and
tightly matted with the blood
of innocents, cannot
be picked apart
by even the most nimble fingers,
and the riddle:
how many babies' bones
are worth the illusion
of a homeland?
The attack on Israelis last October hit me in the gut. It was horrific on so many levels, and I knew it meant war. What I didn't realize is that the war would be genocidal. Honestly Cynthia? Aren't all wars genocidal, with the raping of women, killing of children, and castration of men?
As a sensitive, suffering has initiated me. I’ve learned to. 1) square myself to Reality and not resist it. Resisting Reality drains energy needed for Love. 2) stay close to my body and work until shown how to act on behalf of others. 3) listen to those with direct personal experience, in this instance, Jewish and Palestinian people and those who work or live with them. 4) dance on behalf of an enduring peace for all. 5) remember that powerlessness is, in truth, vulnerability. Vulnerability is a real state into which I can enter and mine for new power. (See getting square to reality above.)
Dancing helps with powerlessness because moving with heart and soul generates power or energy. When another dancer reactivates peace on my behalf, something happens that is greater than both of us. I take courage from dancers worldwide who've danced on behalf of peace for their people for generations.
"The most common way people give up their power
is by thinking they don't have any." – Alice Walker.
Recently, I joined Dance on Behalf of Peace and was deeply moved by sacred invitations from diverse lineages inspiring a greater peace. The collective movement of dancing people from Australia, the U.S., Canada, and the UK. led me to listen and lean in even more to the People of Love. I offered support to the American Friends Service Committee for Emergency humanitarian relief and care for Palestinian children and to help evacuate a Palestinian translator and his family, including three children under ten.
Visionary Marla Durden and InterPlay's Innovation and Integrity Coordinator Christine Gautreaux dreamed up this event. Link here to read an interview with Emmaly Wiederholt on Stance on Dance about DancesonBehalfofPeace.org.
I’m proud to be a seed-planter of the "on behalf of form." Learn how you can apply and share it here as we do in our weekly Hidden Monastery online dance chapels, where all abilities are welcome, including when we’re in hospital, like Julia below.
If you would like to join my Monday 4:30 PM Dance Chapel, message me below or sign up to get weekly updates about all five chapels at https://cynthiawinton-henry.com/dancechapels/.
Mondays 4:30 P.m. PST with Cynthia Winton-Henry- Arts of Ensoulment
Tuesdays 4:30 Am PST with Monisha Mittal– Divine Revelations with Poetry
Wednesdays 9:00 Am PST with Marla Durden– Hip Hop Dance Chapels & Divine Love Rooted–body prayers for all our relations
Wednesdays 4:30 PM PST: The Dancing Hand- Ruth Showalter
1st and 3rd Weds, 7 pm PST/Thurs 7:30 Am India: Neesha Noronha– Returning Wild
Thursdays 9:30 Am PST Nancy Pfaltzgraf & Jane Siarny– Sacred Ways
